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A review by olivera420
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
1.0
I can't even with this book.
World-building is non-existent here. We're just supposed to believe that our world would change on this scale practically overnight with only a token resistance? This woman had a family and her freedom and then that was taken away in the blink of an eye and she just accepts it? And her husband is separated from his wife and he's like: this is fine, who cares, moving on with my life. All the families just take it in stride that this is the new normal? No world wide protests going on? Actually it even says in the book that "there was very little rioting". Okaaaay. Also, we're not told anything about the world at large. Is this happening only in US? We don't know that either.
I put a lot of importance in world-building because without it I can't get invested in a story, and here it's worse than in any other book I've read.
It could have been interesting because it poses some fascinating questions, but I just don't care because a lot of suspension of disbelief is expected of the reader. Actually all suspension of disbelief is expected.
Societies don't change overnight!!!
World-building is non-existent here. We're just supposed to believe that our world would change on this scale practically overnight with only a token resistance? This woman had a family and her freedom and then that was taken away in the blink of an eye and she just accepts it? And her husband is separated from his wife and he's like: this is fine, who cares, moving on with my life. All the families just take it in stride that this is the new normal? No world wide protests going on? Actually it even says in the book that "there was very little rioting". Okaaaay. Also, we're not told anything about the world at large. Is this happening only in US? We don't know that either.
I put a lot of importance in world-building because without it I can't get invested in a story, and here it's worse than in any other book I've read.
It could have been interesting because it poses some fascinating questions, but I just don't care because a lot of suspension of disbelief is expected of the reader. Actually all suspension of disbelief is expected.
Societies don't change overnight!!!